The diary of disappearance. On Jerzy Pilch’s diary trilogy Cover Image

Dziennik znikania. O trylogii diarystycznej Jerzego Pilcha
The diary of disappearance. On Jerzy Pilch’s diary trilogy

Author(s): Michał Kopczyk
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna w Bielsku-Białej
Keywords: Jerzy Pilch (1952–2020); Polish literature; diary; illness;

Summary/Abstract: The text discusses three diaries of Jerzy Pilch: Diary (2012), The Second Diary. June 21, 2012 – June 20, 2013 (2014), The Third Diary. May 7, 2017 – July 15, 2018 (2019). The texts differ in terms of their general principles of composition, diary strategies, poetics, and the themes they explore. They are autonomous entities, but also cohesive units organized around the central theme of disease. The author maintains that the progression of the disease alters and influences various aspects of the diary – in terms of both form and content. The disease intensifies the metatextual layer of the records; the feeling of the approaching end makes the writer contemplate his own understanding of the role of the writer, the role of literature, and ultimately, the role of form in life. The discipline demanded by maintaining a diary serves as a refuge in an increasingly encroaching state of inertia. The diary record gains in importance as the disease limits the physical fitness of the protagonist – it serves as a report of experiencing the disease but increasingly becomes a space in which this experience takes place.

  • Issue Year: 1/2023
  • Issue No: 40
  • Page Range: 27-40
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish
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